Biz Trip Vietnam Food - Pho & Vietnamese Beef Noodles

The next few blogs will all be about food, cause well, there wasn't much to do in Ho Chi Minh except to eat. The food was good and cheap. The only regret I had was not sitting by the roadside having a meal just like the locals. I guess, that was one of my regret for this trip.

But anyway, we can't all dwell in the regrets of our lives, so let's start about the food we had! First day lunch, my Japanese colleague took us to a Pho Cafe. This was my first bowl of Pho in Vietnam, and it was delicious! I almost finished all the soup! I am a snob when it comes to Pho, reason being, I compare it with beef koay teow from Penang and it kinda is the same thing. So I've never been a fan of Pho. But this first bowl I had was flavourful and soothing. I actually went back on another night, but sadly, the taste wasn't consistent and the soup was rather blend then.

Every dish in Vietnam seems to be served with basil leaves and herbs. It kinda take some getting used to. But the herbs seems to make me hungry faster too, so I guess they must be good for you since they aid digestion? Just saying. I can also understand how some people may not like the taste of these raw herbs. But I grew up in a Peranakan family were herbs and vegetables were mostly eaten raw, so I was pretty much at home with these although my stomach took a day or two to be comfortable with it.

We also had the cliche spring rolls. The dipping sauce that came with it was delicious. They weren't fish sauce or sweet and sour sauce, but kinda like peanut-y, rojak-y, chinese sweet red sauce kinda taste. Overall thumbs up! My colleague ordered a steak from the same cafe on the 2nd time I drag him there, but like I said, the standard wasn't consistent, and the steak wasn't anything to rave about. Sad, cause the place was very affordable. 

On our 2nd last day there, we went to a noodle show call "Tam Hao", and I ordered beef noodles. Can't say I was impress by it. It tasted like Taiwan beef noodle, but more diluted. But the coffee there was lovely.